Nigeria’s Super Falcons suffered a 2-0 defeat in the hands of the United States of America in their last Summer Series outing early on Thursday morning.
Despite a commendable performance, Randy Waldrum’s side still bowed to the four-time Fifa Women’s World Cup champions with the two unanswered goals from Christen Press and Lynn Williams.
Both goals, coming in each half of the encounter, were enough for the Stars and Stripes to clip the wings of an impressive Super Falcons side at the Q2 Stadium, Austin, Texas.
Buoyed by their thriving 3-3 draw with Portugal on their last time out, the African side came into the encounter with the ambition of achieving another positive result.
Despite an early attacking surge from the hosts, Nigeria stayed calm and put up solid defensive work to prevent Vlatko Andonovski’s side from wreaking havoc.
The USA had their first clear chance in the 19th minute; however, they were unable to take the initiative as Sam Mewis’ shot from long range was saved by goalkeeper Tochukwu Oluehi.
On the Nigerian side, Barcelona’s striker, Asisat Oshoala and Francisca Ordega were not short of supply. However, they were unable to get past the defensive quartet of Becky Sauerbrunn, Crystal Dunn, Kelley O’Hara, and Abby Dahlkemper.
Another chance fell for the Americans in the 32nd minute as Press beat her marker and took a shot that deflected into the path of Megan Rapinoe. Although the 35-year-old found the net, it was chalked off for offside.
Six minutes later, Toni Payne missed a glorious chance to put the West Africans ahead after firing over the crossbar a pass from captain Oshoala.
With the first half looking to end 0-0, Press curled a shot past Oluehi thanks to an assist from Carli Lloyd. That was her 61st international goal since making her debut in 2013.
Nothing changed in the second half as Randy Waldrum’s side was restricted to playing in their own half. Kudos must be given to goalkeeper Oluehi who made a couple of great saves to deny the American forwards.
Substitute Williams got the second goal for the reigning world champions in the match’s closing stages as she ran onto a pass from Press before rounding the Nigerian goalkeeper.
While the Super Falcons are home bound to step up preparations for October’s Africa Women Cup of Nations qualifier against Ghana, the USA are slated to face Mexico in Connecticut on July 1 and July 5 respectively before departing for the Tokyo Olympics in Japan. – Goal.com
